One wonders how, considering Starfleet Academy and Command is in San Francisco is they didn't know where Alameda was.

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Wasn't it they didn't know how to get there? Mass transit would be mystery to a culture used to beaming everywhere.

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There's little evidence that they "beam everywhere" in Trek's time. Especially to different locations inside the same city or metro area. Certainly in Trek's time mass transit still exists and probably even forms of personal transportation. (Like a car analog.)

They may know in general where Alameda is, but probably only in relation to 23rd century landmarks. Take a city you're familiar with, drop you off at street level a few centuries out of your own time, and see if you'd be able to find your way around. I bet most people would be as lost as Chekov and Uhura.

One wonders how, considering Starfleet Academy and Command is in San Francisco is they didn't know where Alameda was.

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Wasn't it they didn't know how to get there? Mass transit would be mystery to a culture used to beaming everywhere.

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There no indication that (prime universe) Uhura went to the academy.

I've found that even today that unless you regularly ride the bus/train that mass transit is a mystery to the majority of people, I know people who are literally scared to get on a bus because they're not sure exactly where it goes and how to get off where they want.

They may know in general where Alameda is, but probably only in relation to 23rd century landmarks. Take a city you're familiar with, drop you off at street level a few centuries out of your own time, and see if you'd be able to find your way around. I bet most people would be as lost as Chekov and Uhura.

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This.

What did we expect? They would have known where Alameda is, but they were in an unfamiliar city surrounded by unfamiliar landmarks, and the only way that they knew how to get there was to take the air tram or something. Not really an option in 1986.

The general assumption is that Starfleet officers, in the 23rd century, are Starfleet Academy graduates. While its likely that someone like Yeoman Rand is a non-commissioned crewperson, I'm certain Lieutenant Uhura studied at the Academy.

I never understood, apart from it just being a funny part, why Uhura & Chekov didn't know where Alameda was either since both would have gone to Star fleet Academy right across the bay from it.

It was mentioned that they didn't know based on 23rd century landmarks not being there. I don't buy that since Alameda would always be to the east. I live in Dallas and have never been to Houston but I could still find it.

The only thing I could think of is maybe Alameda wasn't there anymore due to an earthquake or it was possibly renamed sometime between 1986 and 2286.